It’s finally happened, folks. After weeks – nay, months – of waiting for bitcoin to get its act together, the world’s leading cryptocurrency by market cap has finally shot beyond the $11,000 mark.
Bitcoin Has Reached New Heights for the Year
It hasn’t been easy for the currency to reach such a summit. It has tried time and time again throughout 2020, but for the most part, has seemingly come up short each time. While bitcoin has managed to jump above the $10,000 range a few times throughout the year, these spurts really haven’t lasted long. The first jump took place in February – roughly five months ago – and sadly didn’t last beyond a few weeks thanks to the incoming coronavirus pandemic.
From there, the asset began to struggle to maintain it’s $8,000 position, eventually (briefly) falling into the high $3,000 range before managing to reach back towards $5,000 and $6,000. It later rose to $10K again in the first half of May, though this didn’t last long at all.
The rise that time had a lot to do with anticipation surrounding the third halving, which was slated to bring bitcoin to new heights and potentially push it beyond its previous all-time high of roughly $20,000 per unit. Sadly, this didn’t come about. The halving proved to be a relatively dismal event, with not much happening once the situation occurred. There was far more action surrounding bitcoin during the actual leadup to the halving rather than the halving itself.
Bitcoin hovered around the $9,000 line for about 30 days or so before eventually jumping back up to $10K again in early June, but this surge lasted even less time than the one in May. The currency’s rise to five figures vanished within hours, and the currency returned to its original $9,000 position, where it’s been for the past several weeks.
However, over the past seven days or so, bitcoin has encountered a lot of change not only in its use, but also in how it’s viewed. For example, banks have received permission to begin offering their users crypto custody services, thereby bridging the gap between decentralized and centralized finance. The fact that banks are now able to offer cryptocurrencies the way they do standard fiat is a huge step forward in bitcoin’s attempts to become legitimate and mainstream.
Some Things Helping It Along
In addition, there is news of a second round of stimulus checks for suffering Americans, which also helped to push bitcoin even further up the financial ladder.
With its recent spike beyond $11,100, the currency has hit a new high for the year 2020 and is off to a solid start in regaining its 2017 foothold. The goal amongst many analysts is to help bitcoin reach its all-time high again, and now it looks like that figure is closer than ever.